Shrine Basilica of Our Lady of Health Vailankanni

"He was transfigured before them" (Mt 17:2). Mold yourself on this figure as though with soft wax so to imprint the image of Christ on it, of whom it is said: "His face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as snow." In this passage you should keep in mind four things: the face, the sun, the clothing and the snow. In the front of the head, which is called a man's face, there are three senses that are ordered and disposed in a wonderful way. These are sight, smell, taste. In the same sort of way, in the face of our souls, there are the vision of faith, the smell of discretion and the taste of contemplation. (…) In the sun there is brightness, whiteness and heat. The brightness of the sun accords perfectly with the vision of faith that, together with the clarity of its light, perceives and believes invisible realities. May the countenance of our souls shine like the sun! May what we see by faith shine in our deeds! May the good we perceive through our interior eyes be brought to fruition externally in the purity of our actions; may what we taste of God in contemplation be transformed to heat in love of neighbor. So, like that of Jesus, our faces "will shine like the sun."

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Saint Anthony of Padua (c.1195-1231) Franciscan, Doctor of the Church Sermon for Septuagesima Sunday Beholding the face of Christ

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